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Trump nominates Joe Kent as director of National Counterterrorism Center

'It’s an honor to serve our nation again,' Yacolt Republican says

By Alexis Weisend, Columbian staff reporter
Published: February 3, 2025, 8:11pm

President Donald Trump has nominated Yacolt Republican Joe Kent, who lost two bids to represent Washington’s 3rd Congressional District, to become director of the National Counterterrorism Center.

The center operates under the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and serves as the primary hub for counterterrorism, where agencies including the FBI, CIA and Homeland Security share intelligence. It maintains a national repository of known and suspected terrorists.

“As a Soldier, Green Beret, and CIA Officer, Joe has hunted down terrorists and criminals his entire adult life,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Monday.

Kent enlisted in the U.S. Army at 18 and served for two decades, deploying 11 times before becoming a field operative for the CIA.

Trump mentioned Kent’s first wife, Shannon Kent, a Navy cryptologic technician who was killed by an Islamic State group suicide bombed in northeastern Syria in 2019.

Kent, a single father to a baby and toddler after his wife died, began defending Trump’s foreign policy in the media.

“Pointless or unwinnable wars are the highest form of disrespect,” Kent wrote in an NBC opinion piece.

“Joe continues to honor her legacy by staying in the fight,” Trump wrote. “Joe will help us keep America safe by eradicating all terrorism, from the jihadists around the World, to the cartels in our backyard.”

Kent ran for Congress against incumbent Republican Jaime Herrera Beutler in 2022, criticizing her vote to impeach Trump following the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. He defended the unsubstantiated claim that the 2020 election was a fraud, supporting election audits and dissolving mail-in voting. Trump endorsed him.

In 2022 and 2024, Kent lost to Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Skamania County. However, he received support from Trump and U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson on the campaign trail.

On Facebook, Kent thanked Trump for the nomination.

“It’s an honor to serve our nation again, time to keep our nation safe & strong!” he wrote.

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